PITTSBURGH, Pa. (December 4) – The Waynesburg University men's basketball team went down to the wire at first-place Chatham and fell 64-60 in a competitive Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) contest on Wednesday evening.

The Yellow Jackets nearly extended their win streak to four games but fell to 3-5 overall and 2-2 in PAC play. Chatham rises to 7-1 and remains unbeaten in the league at 5-0. 

Waynesburg trailed by six (37-31) early in the second half before the Jackets embarked on a 16-2 run to go ahead 47-39 with 12:59 left in regulation. Korey Mitchum (McHenry, Md. / Southern Garrett (Md.)) and Jalen Goins (Morgantown, W.Va. / Morgantown) each canned three-pointers in the spurt. 

Chatham used an 11-2 rally to take a 50-49 lead with seven minutes to play. PJ Suggs (Twinsburg, Ohio / Twinsburg) converted a three-point play to put the Jackets back on top. Suggs and Mitchum made four-straight foul shots to give Waynesburg a 56-52 edge with 5:46 remaining.

The Cougars battled back to take a 57-56 with three minutes to play. Suggs sank two shots from the charity stripe with just over two minutes left to give the Jackets a one-point advantage. A pair of foul shot makes on the next trip down the floor put the Cougars up 59-58.

Waynesburg missed its next shot but collected an offensive rebound before turning the ball over. Chatham also missed but the Cougars secured the offensive board and scored a put back layup to lead 61-58 with 44 seconds to go.

Down three with under 30 seconds left, Suggs could not get a layup to fall. Chatham made one of two free throws to go up 62-58 with 14 seconds left. Scott Bilovus (Imperial, Pa. / West Allegheny) scored on an offensive rebound with 6.2 seconds remaining to bring the score to 62-60. Chatham made its final two foul shots to ice the game, 64-60.

Antone Baker (Maple Heights, Ohio / Maple Heights) made his presence felt early as he scored eight points in the first four minutes of the contest as the Jackets jumped out to an 8-0 lead and led by as many as 10 points (12-2). Chatham answered with a 12-0 run to take a 17-14 edge. 

The score remained within two possessions either way the rest of the half and the Cougars led 31-28 at the break. 

Suggs finished with 17 points, five rebounds and three assists. Baker had 16 points, 13 rebounds and three steals. Goins made a pair of threes on his way to 10 points. 

The Jackets had a 40-37 edge in the rebounding margin and both teams committed 13 turnovers. The game featured seven lead changes and three ties

Waynesburg takes on Allegheny on Saturday at 1 p.m.